RESILIENCE IN ACTION: INCLUSIVE SPACES, SHARED DECISIONS

War and large-scale displacement have increased pressure and tensions in communities and made access to public services more difficult. At the same time, local authorities need practical solutions grounded in people’s real needs, while residents need safe and understandable ways to participate in local processes and decision-making. This project aims to support women, youth and adolescents to become active actors of recovery: strengthen community dialogue, co-create solutions together with municipalities, build social cohesion, and establish everyday support settings for adolescents in familiar community spaces.

The project consists of three strands:

1) Women and youth civic leadership in communities
We deliver a two-part programme for women that combines leadership skills, inner resilience, confidence, and practical tools for participation in local decision-making. After the training, participants move into a supported action phase and, together with youth civic allies, implement post-training follow-up activities: structured multi-stakeholder co-design roundtables resulting in practical action and access roadmaps; light needs assessments with concise Issue Briefs submitted into formal processes; service navigation sessions with open office hours; and small women-led civic micro-initiatives that collect feedback, provide transparent public updates, and generate early tangible improvements at community level.

2) Adolescent Wellbeing and Inclusion Groups
We train facilitators and launch 10 groups in different locations, where safe, creative weekly sessions are delivered for adolescents affected by war and displacement. In these groups, adolescents rebuild a sense of safety, learn self-regulation, strengthen social skills, experience belonging, and gradually regain confidence. The programme includes creative studio modules, sessions on emotions and self-regulation, a "life path" module, storytelling, and low-risk public formats such as reading circles, mini-exhibitions, or short audio stories.

3) Support to women professionals and burnout prevention in communities under heightened war-related strain
A dedicated component supports women professionals working in frontline support sectors to sustain resilience and quality of service delivery under prolonged pressure. We strengthen skills in self-regulation, burnout prevention, ethical referrals, and regular peer support (intervision), so that essential services remain humane, stable and accessible for people in communities experiencing increased needs due to war and displacement.

Who the project is for
• Women, including internally displaced women, women from rural or remote areas, women from minority backgrounds, and women facing barriers to participation, who want to influence decisions in their communities;
• Active youth, including youth councils and youth centres, volunteer groups and civic initiatives;
• Local facilitators working with adolescents (schools, youth centres, social services, CSOs and NGOs);
• Adolescents and youth affected by war, displacement and loss, as well as their peers from host communities;
• Women professionals providing support in communities under heightened pressure due to war and displacement.

Why it matters
The project works where trust can be strengthened and social tensions can be prevented from escalating: at the citizen–authority interface, in everyday youth settings, within public services, and in relations between internally displaced people and host communities. By combining inclusive civic processes, safe adolescent support formats, and support to professionals who keep essential services functioning, the project helps reduce tensions, lower misinformation and frustration, make participation more accessible, and improve the quality and transparency of local decisions.

Expected impact
✔ Local governance becomes more inclusive and accountable: women, youth and groups facing participation barriers gain real and safe routes to influence community processes.
✔ Co-created dialogues and action roadmaps reduce tensions and strengthen cohesion between host residents and displaced communities.
✔ Municipal decision-making becomes more evidence-informed, transparent and timely, while locally led initiatives reduce reliance on external assistance through joint problem-solving.
✔ Adolescents strengthen emotional resilience, social skills and belonging; demand on overstretched mental-health services is reduced through accessible, non-clinical support in everyday community settings.
✔ A culture of care and resilience takes root in communities and daily civic life.

The project's implementation is supported with German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.